I just returned from a 2-week trip to Burundi. When I travel to Burundi, Nepal, Lebanon, and even Myanmar, I try to write an email update every two or three days to keep you all abreast of key developments. I did not write any on this trip, because the situation was too precarious and I did not want to write something that might get me arrested or, even worse, create major problems for my Burundian partners. To be candid, there were many things I saw and heard that I am still very concerned about exposing in an email. When I describe the situation on the ground later in this email, I will be leaving out some of the more sensitive content.
But, before I tell you about the situation on the ground, let me address some of the incredible successes we had while I was in country.
Mutambara
Mutambara is a vulnerable community we have been working with in small ways for the last several years. It is approximately two hours south of Bujumbura in the province of Rumonge. Our working partner in Mutambara is Marie Chantal Irakoze. Chantal is the founder of an organization called CARE for the Children Burundi. Chantal’s approach in the communities she serves is to form empowerment groups of women of up to 40 women per group. The women serve as a support network for each other, and with seed money supplied by CARE, make small business loans to one another. Right now, over 50 percent of the adult women in Mutambara are in an empowerment group.
Last year, I attended a meeting of the ladies in Mutambara. They requested that we assist them with a rabbit project. Well, I am very pleased to report that on May 25th, we launched the Mutambara Rabbit Project. Here’s how it works:
Rabbits were distributed, not to individuals, but to empowerment groups. The members will own the rabbits collectively, and use them primarily for sale to surrounding communities. A rabbit management committee in each empowerment group will decide on prices to be charged for the rabbits (and the droppings) and how profits will be used, whether they will be distributed to the group on a pro rata basis or added to the fund from which to make small business loans.
CARE has land in Mutambara that will serve as the home for the rabbits. Each empowerment group constructed habitats for their rabbits and member of the groups will be responsible for caring for their group’s rabbits in shifts.
We paid for the rabbits, the materials for the habitats, vaccines and health certifications, and the first load of food. Each empowerment group received 10 female rabbits and 5 males. The rabbits cannot be sold for the first six months while they reproduce and the stock of bunnies increases.
Gahararo Water Project
If you’ve been following us for some time, you know that we work with the indigenous Batwa people of Burundi, the single poorest people group in the world. The villages we work with in are Batwa villages called Gahararo and Ruganirwa. We have done porridge programs, school uniform projects, housing projects, solar lighting installations, and water in these villages.
We have seen miracles happen in these Batwa villages. For example, the Batwa constructed a church of their own volition and did so with their own funds and without asking us for help. In the same way, they constructed pit toilets, one for every two houses throughout the community. Again, this was of their own volition and without any request to us for funds. These things never would have happened when we first arrived on the scene in 2012.
Another one of these miracles occurred while I was just in Burundi. The water system we paid to have constructed in 2018 serves 6000 people, Batwa, Hutu, and Tutsi alike. However, because the system was intended for the Batwa, they administer the system and collect a small fee from users of the system.
There is a mining cooperative near Gahararo consisting of 25 families who work a small pit gold mines. They recently asked if the water system could be extended to their small village. The Batwa agreed, and using money in the water committee’s coffers, they completed an extension of the water system to the mining cooperative. This is huge! Along with the church and the pit toilets, this extension of the water system shows that the Batwa are developing an ethic of cooperation and care for their fellow Burundians. I actually believe this is one of the greatest successes GCA has ever experienced.
Musama Slum
I was able to spend time with Victor and the children at Renewal Center in Musama. I cannot emphasize how incredibly successful the Renewal Center is and how important it is to the community. We are now seeing 300 kids use the center each day. They are there to socialize, study, play games, eat, learn about Jesus, and generally escape from the blighted conditions of their lives in Musama. Much of Musama’s success is due to Victor’s charisma with the children and their evident love for him, but it is also because of the programs and the warm and inviting facilities.
I met with children and parents during my visits to the Renewal Center. Every one of them was thankful for the center, for Victor, and GCA. One father I spoke to, Pascal, was moved to tears as he told me about how his seven children come to the center every day and are able to eat and study. In fact, Pascal told me that all of his children are doing exceptionally well in school, a success he attributes to their inclusion at the Renewal Center.
Busoro
Busoro is a slum like Musama, filled with social problems and vulnerable children. We intend to build a second Renewal Center in Busuro and are already in the process of active planning. In fact, Victor is searching for a building for us to lease or purchase. This is Step 1.
I visited Busoro with Victor. I spent time with one particular family. This is the family that has been asking Victor to please open a Renewal Center in Busoro. I was able to spend about 2 hours chatting with them and learning about their situation.
The dad was off working, but the mom, named Patience, was home and invited me to sit and visit. Patience is 35 years old. She has birthed 13 children, 12 are living. The oldest is 18, the youngest was only 3-days old. The family lives in a small shack consisting of two rooms. It is not just the 14 members of Patience’s family that live there. There are a couple of cousins as well. Patience told me a total of 17 people live in these two small rooms.
There was no toilet for this household until Victor recently built them one.
Patience’s children do not attend school, because the family cannot afford to buy them uniforms and school supplies. No one in the family is able to eat every day. One meal every fourth or fifth day is all the family can afford, even with everyone over the age of five going off to work or beg. They get very, very little protein in their diet. They have a small bit of fish once per week or every two weeks.
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